Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-08-30
KNOWN BY THEIR CATS.
Character Indicated by the Manner in
which People Walk.

Character Indicated by the Manner in
which People Walk.
Men have as many different gaits as horses,
and quite as characteristic and distinctive.
Now, there is Jorkins who is long, loose
jointed sort Of man; his legs waver about at
every STEP and his feet point straight forward,
or, if anything, turn just a little inward at
the toes; whereas Dumble, who is short and
inclined to be ''stout,n turns his toes decidedly
outward, plants his feet well apart, and hobs
along in very decided and determined man
ner. JorkinS, Of course, is a good natured
fellow, whom everybody likes well enough,
but who is somewhat lacking in force of char
acter. Dumble, on the other hand, is forcible
enough in some ways. In fact, | have heard
people call him obstinate, and he has an idea
that his clothes, and his wife, and his baby,
and his house, and, in short all his belong
ings, are, by virtue OF being possessed by him,
and by nobody else, respectively the most
stylish, the dearest, the prettiest, and sweet
est, and the most comfortable, and, alto
gether, the best in every way that exists in
this or any other world.
Perhaps you think i: is because know
Dumble, and dislike him. that think his gait
expresses all this; but I do solemnly assure
>
going along the street | formed Just that
opinion of him, which subsequent acquaint-
ance has only confirmed Tilbury, now, is as
different from the other two as possible. He
walks with short step, has small feet, of which
he is rather vain, and, when he is in a hurry,
has a sort of wriggle in his gait. He can't
keep step with any other man, partly because
he steps so short and partly because he is il
1a,.
when a new impulse strikes him-a thing that
happens, on the average, at least once every
five minutes. He was always called 'FTillien
at school and played with the girls at recess.
He sings a fair tenor and very pretty fal-
setto and has taste for art and for the
lighter sorts of poetry.
Let us turn from Tilbury to a distinctively
masculine specimen. He walks as though
the walking itself were a pleasure to him, as
indeed it is That is what the professionals
would call a Square heel and toe" gaia
good stride, strong push with the toes of the
hind foot, a strengthening of the foremost
leg before he puts it down and an easy swing
of the whole body. That is Tom johnson.
When he was in college he could do his mile
inside of nine minutes and his six miles within
the hour. Perhaps his training accounts for
some of the peculiarities of his gait, but his
character is just as square and straightfor-
ward as his walk, and when ne undertakes
anything ne goes through with it and wastes
no time by the way. 1t will not do for a man
to say much about women's gaits. They are
not SO diverse as mems; for one reason, l
imagine, because women wear their shoes
tighter, and nobody can have natural gait
in painful shoes. Most of them bend forward
at the hips, too, and keep their knees bent all
the time. Go up the avenue any Sunday
morning after church, and the women who
walk erect can be counted on your fingers.
The recent popularity Of common sense"
shoes ought to have its effect on women's gait
after a while, and, as q matter of fact, it
seems to me that the younger girls do walk
better than their elder sisters.-J. Walter
Kershaw, in the Epoch.